Converse, a strong advocate of unorthodox creativity and youth culture, collaborates with LASALLE College of the Arts for a second year running. In this partnership, Converse proudly sponsors the iconic Chuck Taylor All Star Classic sneakers to selected final-year students for their graduation fashion show. With zero boundaries, these fashion students unleash their full artistic ingenuity on the Chucks to complement their garment collection.
Named The Fold, this year’s runway show presents an understanding of a continuous process in fashion – of folding and unfolding from the old into the new every season. Fresh stories unravel while the studio breathes a continuous flow of energy, rhythmic vibration and passion that manifest in the students’ works. Each idea exists as threads woven within the wider fabric of fashion inspired by Deleuze’s philosophy of The Fold, a body of infinite folds and surfaces that twist and weave through time and space.
The LASALLE graduation fashion show will be held on 3 May 2018, 3pm (for friends and family) and 7pm (for media and industry). Only invited guests will be able to attend these sessions. The public can view the students’ works in their entirety as a cohort at an exhibition showcase from 17 May 2018, 7pm at LASALLE. The exhibition will run daily till 30 May 2018, from 12pm – 8pm.
Before the presentation of the students’ works, Nookmag managed to squeeze in an exclusive chat with the students to discuss their designs.
Yi Lu
Collection Name: The Space in Between
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: It started with an inspiration to enable movement. As Yi Lu delved further into minimalism – a particular subject of fascination – in her research, her designs and ideas took on multiple dimensions. Her inspirations include minimalist artists James Turrell, whose light installation artworks have earned him high regards. She also looked into works of Carsten Nicolai, a renowned minimalistic musician and artist.
The cut of the Chucks is inspired by Carsten Nicolai’s installations. With the idea of enabling movement, Yi Lu eliminated all seams in the sneakers – an approach that mirrored her garment collection. She ripped the Chucks of their original upper and traced out the shape onto another fabric to recreate the sneakers. Through a few tries, she generated a kind of laser cut on the fabric of the upper for wearers to easily slip their feet into the shoes without any fastenings.
The colours of the Chucks will follow the garment collection, which has a gradient of colours ranging from white, green, blue and black.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Yi Lu: It’s really interesting to rip open the entire shoe to reinvent and redesign it. This is a first for me and it’s really fun. The pattern-cutting that we do in clothing is very different from how it is done on shoes.
Q: What is the most challenging part of your design?
Yi Lu: I tried a few different ways of doing laser cuts on the shoe’s fabric as it is very different from working with clothing. The first one failed because the opening was too small and the pattern was too big. It didn’t fit the Chucks very well. For my second try, the cuts were quite far apart and it couldn’t fit the feet very well. For my final attempt, I measured every cut and the space in between so the cuts do not rip apart. The cuts connect and open very well as a result.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Yi Lu: Converse is very classic and youthful. My collection shares the same youthfulness – think 60’s youth quake. And so, it is really a dream come true to collaborate with Converse because of how it relates to the collection. Reinventing the patterns of the sneakers is very suitable too.
I like sneakers. When I was young, I always drew on my Converse sneakers. That was me as a designer – I like to customise my shoes.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Yi Lu: I like things that are minimal and simple so I would say white t-shirt and blue jeans. That’s the easiest. It’s a very classic and go-to school-look for me.
Nitya Anand
Collection Name: Stuffed
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: Fusing 90’s Hip Hop street culture and hand-woven Indian Ikat textile, Nitya pieces up her wildest imagination in her final-year garment collection. The designer is a fervent lover of Hip Hop music and is particularly captivated by the genre’s golden era in the 90’s. The baggy silhouette and colours are main sources of inspiration, while the key textile technique is quilting.
Nitya’s Chuck Taylor designs follow and complement her collection closely. For the shorter garments in her collection, she created boots out of the Chucks. All tongues on the shoes are quilted.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Nitya: It’s a very versatile pair of shoes, which makes it very easy to work with. As it’s a blank canvas, you can do anything. If I have to wear them, I would choose plain black or white. I like working with colours more than wearing them. I have the primary colours in my collection and I balance that with the Ikat, which is only in black and white.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Nitya: I know of a lot of people who owns Converse shoes. The shoes are so wearable and you can put it on with any outfit. Anything you do when you wear a pair of Chucks is comfortable. This has benefitted our designs because they will automatically become wearable.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Nitya: I don’t think there’s a specific way to dress with Chucks as they can go well with dresses, as well as smart casual outfits etc.
Shivani Goyal
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: Shivani has created a collection of fabric swatches inspired by the process of decay, bacteria and fungi. This unconventional design concept has allowed her to play with a wild range of patterns and colours while challenging the perception of viewers.
For Shivani’s design inspiration for the Chucks, she relates the patterns to women – how they struggle, work harder, and ‘make their own faith’ in the world. The bold colours used speak volume of this story. She keeps the front section white to balance out the colours and keep the design easy on the eyes.
The designer incorporated zips on the sneakers to make them easier and faster for working women to put them on. When the zips open up, the Converse logo on the tongue will be shown.
Working with Chucks is second nature to Shivani, as a designer who has always been fond of sneakers and understands their comfort. She believes that sneakers can be worn every day and match all sorts of styles.
She claims, “When you’re walking comfortably, you’re more active throughout the day.”
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Shivani: The most important thing about this pair of custom Chucks is that I want it to be simple but attractive. This makes it easier for people to feel that they can have it in their closet. If I have to make it fashionable, I want it to be wearable by everyone.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Shivani: I have a pair of basic Chucks. I always like the white signature ones, which I can wear with all my garments. The white sneakers with blue and red lines have a very simple but nice unique look. How Converse has created them, no one else is able to do it the same way. It’s really cool.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Shivani: I usually wear my Chucks with miniskirts, shorts and jeans. I have the low cut ones that are more comfortable and easier to wear as compared to the high cut ones. I can wear them out all day.
Rachel Lu Yiwen
Collection Name: SS19 Stereopsis
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: In her collection, Rachel takes reference from the oppression that women in America faced in the 1950s. Women were expected to be perfect in their various roles as a wife, mother and daughter. Internally, they were feeling all sorts of dissatisfaction.
The anger and injustice felt during that era are represented by Rachel’s use of men’s garments and twisting them to create a women’s collection. With the same concept in mind, the designer inventively construct ‘twists’ on the Chucks by attaching cut-up Chucks on regular pairs. The sneakers will be made to look like monk strap or loafers.
The colours of the Chucks will follow and match the garment collection, which contains white, ivory, red and grey.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Rachel: Converse is a classic and I feel a lot of pride working with the Chucks than off-the-shelf shoes. I’m working with something that is known by everybody. It’s exciting that Converse is sponsoring this.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Rachel: I don’t own one. Somehow, it didn’t happen for me.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Rachel: Jeans and white t-shirt. I think that’s very classic.
Geraldine Chan
Collection Name: Nacre: Mother of Pearl
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: Pearls go under the spotlight in Geraldine’s collection. As a designer who is drawn to nature, she is inspired by the formation of pearls and their intrinsic values. While most people look at pearls superficially, she feels that there is more to them as the whole transformation process from an irritant to something so beautiful is intriguing.
The collection portrays the growth process of pearls as layers of nacre form continuously. This is reflected in her Chucks design that will feature ‘a shoe within a shoe’. The colour theme is white – a distinct quality of pearls that adds to their beauty.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Geraldine: This is my first time working with sneakers, so it has been quite experimental. It’s quite fun to rip them apart and see the construction of the shoes. I like that the Chucks are very sturdy, especially the sole.
I’m working on the high cut sneakers as they go better with my collection.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Geraldine: I used to own a pair of low cut Chucks. They’re very comfortable and I liked them a lot. I wore them every day until they became worn out.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Geraldine: You can pair them up with anything – casual or formal.
Valencia Hardy and Yoan Alodia
Collection Name: EUGENE
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: Valencia and Yoan’s design concept for their collection is about the idea of utopia and the development of identity from childhood days. Looking at the formation of identity through the concept of society and self, the designers wish to challenge norms and highlight different factors that could influence an individual’s identity.
In their garment collection, they use gathered ruffles and sewed them onto the garments. Similarly, these ruffles are featured on the shoes too. Dominant colours are turquoise green and fuchsia pink. These bright pastel colours that are seemingly positive are used to represent the development of identity from childhood.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Valencia & Yoan: We feel excited about working with the shoes because we get to paint them and experiment with a new material. We work mostly with fabric but not with shoes before.
This experience requires some experimentation. As we need to glue fabric to the shoes, we had to test and check if our method works.
We are also working with a lot of colours as we are designing a sneaker for every look in our collection.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Valencia & Yoan: We had one or two when we were younger. Converse is a street wear brand that has a very flexible style. You can wear it with almost everything. The brand relates to the concept of our collection as we want to portray youthfulness, which is the identity that we are offering.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Valencia & Yoan: Wear colourful socks.
Azra Syakirah
Collection Name: GIN OUKAM
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: With an interest in the psychological aspects of life, Azra creates her collection using an ancient mythology to challenge perceptions. She explores the notion that the only way to kill a werewolf is with silver, which is considered pure and perfect. From this folklore, she questions the beliefs that not everything that is considered perfect is good and not everything that is imperfect (like the werewolf) is bad.
The design of the Chucks is based closely on the collection, with elements of fur and a colour theme of grey/silver and black. It presents the transition from the dark side to the silver parts.
For the outfits that include jogger pants, Azra will use low cut Chucks for a better fit. The looks with normal trousers will be paired with high cut Chucks. The trousers can be tucked into the shoes so that the fur details are well displayed.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Azra: In the past, I would design and colour my own shoes. I would buy cheap shoes from the market. This time, I get to do it for real again…with Converse sneakers! It’s been a while since I get to do this – love it! Lately I’ve only been able to do fashion-related work. It’s refreshing to be able to do art that is my style. It makes me rediscover my liking for art.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Azra: I own a few Converse shoes – the basic Chucks and a few other colours. I used to wear neon pink ones. The sneakers are very wearable and I can match them with a lot of my clothes. But they are too casual, especially the normal Chucks. If it’s not a formal event, you can wear them anytime. They are very comfortable.
For my design, I added more glitter so that it’s not too casual and not too dressy at the same time.
Q: What is the most challenging part of your design?
Azra: At first, I had no idea how to apply the glitter on the sneakers. When you touch it, it comes off. That’s the most difficult part but I found a way. I tried a few different methods.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Azra: I usually style my clothes based on my shoes, instead of the other way round. Personally, I don’t own high cut Chucks as they will make me look extra short.
Dessy Fresly Yanty
Collection Name: The Bird of Paradise
Design Inspiration for Converse Chuck Taylor: In Dessy’s collection, she is driven by the feeling that the younger generation seems to be neglecting their culture. The designer addresses this sentiment by blending street style with traditional cultural elements such as Baroque style and Indonesian Wayang motifs. Complementing the collection, the Chucks are painted in bright colours inspired by Ikat Batik from Indonesia. Embellishments made out of laser-cut Baroque-inspired motifs and crystals are painstakingly sewed onto the sneakers’ upper.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with the Chuck Taylors?
Dessy: I like how its street wear personality matches my collection’s theme.
Q: What is the most challenging part of your design?
Dessy: I need to sew the embellishments on the shoes one by one and it takes a lot of time.
Q: How do you relate to Converse?
Dessy: I wear Chucks in high school and I painted them black.
Q: Share with us some tips on how to dress with a pair of Chucks.
Dessy: They are very comfortable. You can mix and match them with different garments from a whole range of styles. They go well with jeans and t-shirt, and even feminine style.
About the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Classic
The Chuck Taylor All Star is the most iconic sneaker in the world, recognised for its unmistakable silhouette and cultural authenticity. For generations, these classic colours and the quality rubber vulcanized sole have defined an icon. Born on the court but adopted by rebel, rockers, rappers, artists, dreamers, thinkers and originals, the Chuck Taylor All Star continues to celebrate personal style and individual self-expression.
